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My Basic Beauty Essentials

Hi Guys! So I know I haven’t blogged in forever — SO SORRY! Med. school owns me, literally. Boards are approaching..you’ll understand when you get there and to all of you that have already been there, PROPS, I can’t wait until I’m in your shoes. Anyway, I got asked by several of you to post my skincare routine, beauty tips, and a few of my favorite products so here goes. I’m gonna go from the head and work my way to the toes just as I would in a head-to-toe exam 😉 haha, see what I did there?

Before I proceed, I have a few skin facts for you: your skin is the LARGEST ORGAN in your body. Therefore, I am very particular about what I put on it. You know the saying, “Don’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t eat”? I agree with that to some extent, of course I’d never eat my body wash but you get my point. Your skin absorbs up to 60% of what it touches – so whatever you put on it will get absorbed and go into your bloodstream. I use all organic or at least 100% natural skincare products, you just have to be careful because the term “natural” isn’t FDA regulated like organic.

Parabens, Pthalates, and Sulfates, OH MY! Parabens are very similar in chemical structure to Estrogen and even fit their receptors. When parabens bind to estrogen receptors, this can disrupt the endocrine system and cause breast cancer as well as other forms of cancer. Pthlates give plastic its elasticity – this is a no brainer, you don’t want any form of plastic entering your skin..again a risk for cancer. Sulfates can form carcinogenic nitrates which is also linked to cancer. These are all common products found in BRAND NAME beauty products! To each his own, I just personally don’t want any type of chemicals going into my skin. 🙂 ALL OF THE PRODUCTS MENTIONED BELOW ARE EITHER ORGANIC, OR 99-100% NATURAL!!

1.SHAMPOO & CONDITIONER – Some of my favorite brands are Organix, Gud, Jason’s, Burt’s Bee’s, Yes TO, and Wen. All of these products are either organic or natural in nature and don’t contain any artificial fragrances, perfumes, dyes, parabens, pthalates, petroleum, sulfates, etc. I have long hair and one of the most frequent compliments I get is on my hair. I’m currently using one of Organix’s new scents: Niacin & Caffeine and absolutely LOVE it! My hair has felt thicker, stronger, and more smooth. I’m also a huge fan of their biotin and collagen shampoo and conditioner. These are found at your local Wal-mart, Kroger, CVS, H-E-B, Amazon, their website. etc!

2. BODY WASH – First, I ONLY use a real sea sponge. They are 100% natural, being found at the bottom of the ocean floor, are a renewable natural resource, eco-friendly, less abrasive than artificial sponges, exfoliate better, and don’t contain any added colors, chemicals, or toxins that artificial sponges contain. I recently just switched to these… I know, I used to love the colorful Bath & Body works sponges too. My current body wash is Gud’s by Burt’s Bee’s Mango Moonwash but I also love the Yes To body washes, the grapefruit Burt’s bee’s, and the Organix body washes. I love the Mango Moonwash scent of Gud’s, but then again, I love all of their scents! I get the sponge and bodywash from http://www.Amazon.com and use my student Prime 2 day FREE shipping!

3. Make-up Removal – Philosophy’s gel cleanser make-up removal is literally the best removal I’ve ever owned. It gets rid of all traces of make-up! It makes my face feel SO CLEAN and smooth. I do this step before I use my simple sugars green tea facial scrub.You can get it from Sephora, Ulta, Amazon, etc. I use the Yes To Eye Make-up Remover pads to get rid of any stubborn mascara marks and they work wonderfully! Also get them from either the Yes to site or from Amazon.

4. Facewash/Facial Care – I don’t know if any of you watch the show “Shark Tank” but recently there was a company shown called “Simple Sugars.” I am obsessed. I am very prone to breakouts with my oily skin and STRESS, surprise right? I use the green tea facial scrub – it’s excellent at reducing inflammation, is a natural antibacterial, an excellent antioxidant, and makes my face soooo smooth after washing and has also cleared my break-outs. BTW I have NO TIES to any of these products and am not endorsed, these are just my honest opinions. 🙂 The only downfall is your skin can feel “greasy” if you use too much or if you’re not used to the feeling aka you are used to the “squeaky” antibacterial clean which strips your body’s natural oils and balance fyi. They also do body scrubs which I use a couple times a week. The smooth, soft feeling you get after using their scrubs is amazing – you literally DO NOT need to add lotion, that’s how silky you’ll feel but clearly you can if you like. I am a huge fan of the grapefruit scrub (the only one I’ve tried so far) but it’s also a very powerful antioxidant and even reduces the appearance of cellulite! I’m so excited to try the coffee and chocolate scrubs next! Below is a picture of my actual products I received from them, they come in cute pink packaging! HUGE FAN! You can get their products at http://www.simplesugarscrubs.com however I also love Alba’s organic facial wash to fight stubborn break outs, you can get it from Amazon! My 2 OR 3 step routine is usually the Philosophy make-up remover cleanser, Simple sugars green tea facial scrub, and THEN Philosophy’s RENEWED Hope in a jar (the original hope in a jar is much thicker and not as effective in my opinion) on very harsh, cold winter days when my face is dry. I ALSO add a weekly facial in my routine and my favorite thus far is the Alaskan Glacial Facial – Alaskan clay which is gathered from a river that carves through an Alaskan Glacier, it’s literally a glacial facial and all natural! I chose the peppermint lavender because it is so refreshing and rejuvenating. It makes my face feel soft, smell great, and removes blackheads, toxins, and impurities from my skin. I usually only do the 2 steps though because I’ve learned that the less I bother my face, the better. My skin type (on my face at least) is oily and gets aggravated very easily so I use as less product as possible (the body heals itself – notice the osteopathic concept? 😉

5. Shaving Cream – I love how smooth EOS makes my legs feel after shaving, and I love even more that they’re chemical free, no animal products, no artificial colors, parabens, etc..you get my drift by now. Far better than any Skintimate or Silk brand.

6. Lotion – You can see the trend here, my favorite lotions are Organix, Burt’s Bee’s, Yes to, and EOS. My current lotion is the cherry blossom and rice milk. The scent is amazing. I love all three scents but I always like to switch it up each month and go from brand to brand.

7. Deodorant – I’ve searched high and low for a product like this. Again, if any of you are Shark Tank fans, then you know what product I’m talking about. Piperwai! I’ve tested it short and long term and it actually WORKS as an anti-perspirant and deodorant. I compared it to Tom’s natural deodorant I’ve had previously which worked as a deodorant but wasn’t an anti-perspirant..I don’t recommend it. But Piperwai is a natural cream charcoal with NO aluminums (aluminums are also linked to breast cancer and other forms of cancer), no parabens, no pthlates, no chemicals etc. It rubs in CLEAR and works ALL DAY! I compared it to Dove (what I had before Piperwai) and found that it actually worked better! Who knew?!

Whatever you do, you’re going to be in your own skin until you die. That’s a while. Might as well get comfortable in it! 🙂 Stay tuned for my favorite make-up products and tips in the very near future! Hope you guys enjoyed this! XOXO -M.

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7 thoughts on “My Basic Beauty Essentials”

Loved the post. It’s always interesting to see what different people use and why. I’m far from the sulfate, paraben, etc-free route, though I’m not sure why. I know my facial cleanser is clear of all that, but I doubt my MAC products are – heck, I just looked for an ingredient list and couldn’t find one on their site. D:

However, I do know that with skin-care, I always look for AHA/BHA in the products because I am an oil-producer! I actually explained the science behind my skin-care choices, recently, too (haha). I’ve also been experimenting with different masks so I might have to up the “more natural” alternatives on the list!

Yep – Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try to prevent cancer, even with a perfect diet, exercise, all natural everything, we can still end up getting it due to our genetics. That’s why I never want to push people towards that route, I just like it because what can it hurt to try and prevent 🙃

This was a great read! I’ve actually been considering switching to EOS shaving cream but haven’t done it yet lol i loved that you mention how everything we put on our skin gets absorbed into our bloodstream bc a lot of us don’t seem to either know or remember that. A few years ago I was shocked to find out there’s aluminums in deodorants and that they’re linked to cancer! Thanks for sharing so many natural products that are out there. Looking forward to your make up tips post! 🙂

I randomly found you on Instagram and am so excited! I’ve been looking for fellow med student bloggers like myself and its been kind of hard! It’s so fun to see what you are up to! I’ll be coming back to read more!